At the Summit of Apocrypha
by ZealousPhoenix245
Summary: "Mora won this time, and gained the secrets he'd lusted after for eras and even a new champion. The last thing Miraak thought as he began to fade was that maybe he had been wrong after all." Oneshot drabble of insight into Miraak's thoughts and reasoning behind betraying the dragons and contracting Hermaeus Mora, and his subsequent death by hand of the Daedric Lord.


**At the Summit of Apocrypha - an Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn oneshot**  
By: ZealousPhoenix245  
Disclaimer: I don't own Elder Scrolls or Miraak. This is merely the spawn of my overactive, relatively villain-loving mind. All rights go to their respective peoples.

Quick Author's Note: I was sitting at my dining room table, listening to Disturbed on my phone, and drinking coffee when this little idea popped into my head for relatively unknown reasons. I just got to thinking "y'know, what did Miraak think about the whole thing? What was he thinking when he betrayed the dragons, other than that he was more powerful than them? What did he think about Mora?" I have a tendency to like villains who have a solid REASON for doing what they do, the ones that you can sympathize with despite the fact that they're more evil than spiders. And spiders are pretty evil, just to add. I also like to try my hand at characterizing the people you don't see much of or get to see inside their heads, so writing this was actually a lot of fun expanding on a character that's practically a blank canvas. I rather like how it turned out, not disregarding Miraak's arrogance (because, _yikes_ was that guy able to give Altair Ibn-La'ahad a run for his money) but yet giving him a human aspect. Because, villain/evil Dragon Priest/Champion of a Daedric Lord he may have been, but he _was_ a Nord. He _was_ human. Hence this little oneshot.

Well, enjoy!

* * *

He was undeniably tired. Then again, he supposed that was to be expected with the breadth of years he had lived. Well, lived in a sense, rather, but lived, nonetheless. And perhaps he was now beginning to pay the price for all he'd done. Maybe his troubles now attaining the singular goal he had set out for upon propositioning Hermaeus Mora were what he deserved for tricking his former masters as he did. For using the Daedric Prince of Forbidden Knowledge.

All those centuries ago, back when he'd become a Priest for the Dragons, becoming the Champion of a Daedric Lord had seemed a good idea. After all, they manipulated mortals; it was high time a "mere mortal" paid them back in kind. On top of that, if he tried to say he was frightened of his draconic masters, he'd be lying. Miraak _had_ been frightened – nay, _terrified_ of what they would do when they found out about the blood he had supposedly been blessed with. The strange power he held, back then unknown to him before his confrontation with Mora and his Black Book, put him above his overlords. But it also put him in a decidedly vulnerable position, one where wielding fear and rebellion would perhaps cause him more harm than good. In the end, however, it had. Contracting Herma-Mora had done him no good, as the Daedra had promised, against the dragons that had razed his temple and sent Vahlok to jail him other than perhaps giving him a second chance. Though, as things in Apocrypha began falling apart around him, he no longer was sure.

Miraak admitted to his arrogance, and admitted that perhaps he had gone too far. After Mora's seeming betrayal, his resentment had grown for his master. Apocrypha was said to take the minds of those who stayed too long, and the once-priest knew he was trapped without a real mortal shell to call his own on Nirn. Herma-Mora had never intended to save him. Rather, the Daedra had intended to garner _something_ from him. What it was, Miraak wasn't sure. Maybe he believed him to hold knowledge on how to spawn a Dragonborn, or maybe he believed him to have the knowledge on his native Skaal that Mora so craved. He didn't know, and frankly, he didn't care. No one tried to trap him in the recesses of his own mind and give him an insatiable thirst for knowledge. No one. Not even a Daedric Prince. He could best Mora with just a little time and a little manipulation. He _knew_ he could! After all, hadn't he set out to manipulate him in the first place? Didn't his dragon blood put him a cut above the rest?

Now, however, he wasn't so sure. As he stood on Apocrypha's Summit, actually bleeding from a few wounds and facing off the Vanquisher of Alduin the World-Eater, he had his doubts. The First Dragonborn fighting the Last Dragonborn on the Summit of Apocrypha – he couldn't tell if it was poetic, ironic, or just very plainly an appropriate happenstance of fate.

Whatever it was, Miraak thought as Hermaeus Mora intervened at the last moment and pierced him with a poisoned tentacle, it looked like he'd been the one manipulated. Mora won this time, and gained the secrets he'd lusted after for eras and even a new champion, however grudging.

The last thing Miraak thought as he began to fade was that maybe he had been wrong after all.

* * *

Final Words: Well, there you have it. One thing I will mention is why I insinuated Miraak is from the Skaal. Well, he's on Solstheim. The Nordic population back then would've been of Skaal origin. It actually makes more sense to have him be of the Skaal, and then it also explains a little more in-depth a reason why Mora could've had behind making him his champion. He was after the Skaal secrets, and if Miraak was a Skaal and could give them to him...well, that's somewhat Daedric-ish and manipulative, wouldn't you think?

Anyway, hope you liked it! R&R!  
~ZealousPhoenix


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